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Stewartville FFA Corn Drive

10/31/2017

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Stewartville FFA Corn Drive: Annual Service Project, November 3rd

The Stewartville FFA will be holding the annual Corn Drive for Camp on November 3rd. This project has been a state wide effort, which many FFA chapters take part in, for over 60 years. During this service project, FFA members will be asking for cash or corn donations to benefit the mission of True Friends, which includes Camp Courage & Camp Friendship. We are very fortunate to partner with All American Co-op for this unique service project. Funds donated will be sent to Camp Courage and used to provide scholarships for kids & adults with disabilities to attend camp. This year we will be stationed at All American Co-op, serving lunch as you cross the scale from 10am-2pm on November 3rd.

If we miss you on November 3rd, but you would still like to donate, you have several options. You are welcome to contact an FFA member or send the check to Stewartville FFA at 440 6th Ave SW Stewartville, MN. If you would like to donate corn, please let the All American Co-op employee know as you cross the scale and they will be happy to help you. We look forward to partnering with numerous community members & businesses to make this service project a success!

About Corn Drives

In the mid-1950’s, an FFA chapter from Freeborn, MN took to local corn fields to ask farmers if they could pick up corn after a damaging storm. These FFA students walked the fields picking up corn; they sold this corn and donated the proceeds to Camp Courage. This very first corn drive raised $90 for camp. Since that first chapter and first corn drive, over 80 chapters have joined the “Corn Drive for Camp Courage,” and turned that $90 into a 60 year tradition and over $5.5 million donated to our camps, where children and adults with disabilities attend camp, make friends, learn new skills and have fun.

Evolution of the Corn Drive

Last year, 61 Chapters of the MN and WI FFA took part in the Corn Drive for Courage. This number continues to increase as more and more chapters learn about camp and the impact their donations have on children and adults with disabilities. There are different ways chapters can participate in the fundraiser. Some still physically collect the corn from farmers and sell it at a local grain elevator. Others set up a table at a local elevator to accept donations as farmers come to sell their corn. FFA Chapters without corn to sell conduct other fundraiser activities including other grain drives, battery drives, dessert auctions, fruit sales and flower sales.

History of True Friends, Camp Courage and the FFA

Over the past 60 years, True Friends and Camp Courage have had the great joy of working with hundreds of FFA students and advisors and these students are bright, dedicated and hard-working. The Minnesota FFA has an amazing history of philanthropy towards Camp Courage. The FFA motto is: Learning to Do, Doing to Learn, Earning to Live, Living to Serve. That last portion, “Living to Serve,” is what drives them to give back to their community. Not only do these students donate money, they donate their time as volunteers and counselors at camp.